9.  The applicant, Ms Şemsi Önen, is a Turkish citizen, born in 1968. At the relevant time, she lived in the village Karataş near Mazıdağı (Mardin) in south-east Turkey. The application was brought by the applicant on behalf of her deceased parents and brother, on her own behalf and on behalf of her ten suriving siblings, namely Mekiye, Ishan, Ercan, Mehmet Nuri, Medine, Sultan, Sevgi, Iskender, Melek and Hamdullah. It concerns the killing of their parents and brother Orhan, allegedly by armed members of the Balpınar village guards, and the investigation thereof.
10.  Since the 1980s, a violent conflict has been conducted in the south-eastern region of Turkey between the security forces and sections of the Kurdish population in favour of Kurdish autonomy, in particular members of the PKK (Kurdish Workers' Party). According to the Government, one of the main terrorist activities of the PKK was the killing of people who have acted contrary to the cause of this organisation or who have misused property of the PKK. At the time of the events in issue, ten of the eleven provinces of south-east Turkey had been under emergency rule since 1987.
11.  The facts of the case, in particular the circumstances of the killings and the efforts of the authorities to investigate the killings, are disputed.
12.  As the village of Karataş, where the applicant and her family lived at the time of the events in issue, had refused the village guard system, tension had arisen between Karataş and its neighbouring village Balpınar. This refusal had also resulted in pressure being applied to the villagers by the gendarmes.
13.  On or about 15 November 1992, four Balpınar village guards were killed in a clash with the PKK. On the same day, shortly after the clash, gendarmes and village guards attacked the village of Karataş. This attack lasted several hours. The following day, the Muhtar of Karataş complained to the Governor that his village was being subjected to pressure and violence from the gendarmes and village guards. No investigation of the attack took place.
14.  Some weeks before 16 March 1993 the house of the Muhtar and the applicant's family house were both strafed by several rounds of bullets fired by Balpınar village guards. The Muhtar again complained to the Governor about the pressure exerted on his village by the Balpınar village guards and requested that steps be taken to put an end to it.
15.  In the evening of 16 March 1993 the applicant's older brother, Orhan Önen, and her parents, Ibrahim and Mome Önen, were killed and the applicant suffered a wound to her foot as a result of a planned action by members of the Balpınar village guards to kill Orhan Önen. Before he was shot and killed, the applicant's father was able to pull the scarf from the head of one of the intruders and shouted that he recognised the gunmen as Ali Ertaş, head of the Balpınar village guards, and his nephew Orhan Ertaş, a former Balpınar village guard. The applicant's mother, who was seriously injured by a bullet, died on her way to hospital.
16.  The Commander of the local Fosfat gendarme station, who had possibly been informed beforehand of the plan by the Balpınar village guards to kill Orhan Önen, seriously delayed the applicant's mother's access to medical treatment by refusing to provide a car to replace the defective minibus which was to transport her to a hospital and by unduly delaying the departure of this minibus for Mazıdağı.
17.  The subsequent investigation of these killings was not only ineffective and inadequate in professional terms, but was in fact designed to cover up the involvement of the Balpınar village guards and to prevent the conviction of Ali and Orhan Ertaş. From the very beginning of the investigation, and throughout the entire subsequent proceedings, the authorities blamed the PKK for the killings and failed to keep the applicant informed of any steps taken in the investigation.
18.  On 8 October 1992 PKK forces attacked Balpınar village guards on the slopes of the Kırmızıtepe hill close to the village of Balpınar. This clash lasted about twenty minutes. There were no casualties. To date, the perpetrators of this attack have not been found.
19.  On 15 November 1992 PKK forces ambushed nine Balpınar village guards on a road near the village of Karataş. In the course of this clash, which lasted about fifteen minutes, four village guards were killed and four others wounded. An investigation into the clash was carried out. The Fosfat gendarme station commander, Salih Kaygusuz, took statements from the five surviving village guards during the course of the investigation. To date, the perpetrators of this attack have not been identified.
20.  On 16 March 1993 at about 20.15 hours an armed PKK attack using rocket missiles and heavy weapons was carried out on a PTT radio link station in Mazıdağı-Kaletepe, at a distance of about one kilometre from Mazıdağı. The village guards present returned fire. The clash lasted about ten to fifteen minutes. There were no casualties. Shortly after the clash, gendarmes from the Mazıdağı Central gendarme station arrived at the scene. The next day, a land mine was found on the road leading to the PTT station. The initial investigation of this attack was carried out by Mazıdağı Central gendarme station under the responsibility of the public prosecutor at Mazıdağı.
21.  Also in the evening of 16 March 1993 the killing of three Karataş villagers was reported to the public prosecutor in Mazıdağı. For reasons of security, the public prosecutor only arrived at the scene of the incident at 08.00 hours the next morning. He conducted an investigation, including attendance at the post mortem examination of the bodies of the victims carried out by a medical doctor.
22.  All necessary steps were taken to investigate the killing of the applicant's parents and brother, including the collection of evidence. After having completed his preliminary investigation, the public prosecutor of Mazıdağı issued on 7 July 1993 a decision of lack of jurisdiction and the investigation was referred to the public prosecutor's office at the Diyarbakır State Security Court. This referral resulted in the institution of proceedings against Ali and Orhan Ertaş before the Diyarbakır State Security Court.
On 6 May 1994, in the context of these proceedings and on the instructions of the Diyarbakır State Security Court, further statements were taken before a judge of the Mazıdağı Criminal First Instance Court from Ali Ertaş, Mahmut Denli and Mecit Kaya. No statements were taken from the applicant and her sister Mekiye, since they no longer resided in Karataş and their new address could not be established.
23.  On 28 December 1994 the Diyarbakır State Security Court acquitted Ali and Orhan Ertaş for lack of evidence. After this decision the investigation nevertheless continued but the perpetrators of the killing of the applicant's parents and brother have not been found.
24.  The Government submitted that it appeared from information obtained that the PKK had provided the applicant's brother Orhan with a taxi, which he had put to his own private use. He had thus made his family a target of the PKK, a terrorist organisation which was in all likelihood responsible for the killing of the applicant's parents and brother.
25.  On 16 March 1993 an incident report was drawn up by the gendarmes of the Mazıdağı District gendarme station stating that at around 21.30 hours that day, a group of terrorists belonging to the outlawed PKK organisation entered the home of Ibrahim Önen and opened fire. Ibrahim and Orhan Önen were shot and killed. Mome and Şemsi Önen were injured and Mome Önen died on the way to hospital. The report also referred to nine empty Kalashnikov cartridges without further specifications.
On the same date NCO Salih Kaygusuz of the Fosfat Gendarme Station drew a sketch map of the interior of the Önen family's two-room house. It indicated in one room the location of the bodies of Ibrahim and Mome Önen, two blood stains between the body of Ibrahim Önen and the front door and five empty cartridges. In the other room the location of the body of Orhan Önen and four empty cartridges was indicated. No blood stains were recorded in the room where the body of Orhan Önen was indicated. The sketch map only recorded what had been found inside the house. It did not contain any information about the immediate surroundings of the house.
26.  According to a post mortem examination report dated 17 March 1993, due to security precautions, the team of experts only arrived on 17 March 1993 at about 08.00 hours in Karataş, acting on a report that three persons had been killed there on 16 March 1993 at 20.00 hours. This team consisted of the public prosecutor of Mazıdağı Yekta Çobanoğlu, the medical doctor Sedat İşçi of the Mazıdağı Health Centre, a clerk, an autopsy assistant and a driver. The report further indicated that Mome had died on the way to hospital and that her body had been brought back to the village. The bodies of Ibrahim, Mome and Orhan Önen had been identified by a relative, Mehmet Hadi Araç. The examination report contained information on bullet - entries and exits and concluded that the respective causes of death were haemorrhaging of the lungs, loss of blood and cessation of vital functions. Given the obvious nature of the cause of death, it was decided that there was no need to conduct an autopsy.
27.  On 1 and 5 April 1993 statements were taken from the applicant and her sister Mekiye by the Fosfat gendarme station commander, Salih Kaygusuz, and by gendarme officer Cengiz Kesler of the Mazıdağı district gendarme station.
On 4 April 1993 Salih Kaygusuz took statements from the Balpınar village guards Ali Ertaş, son of Kasım and born in 1953, and Mecit Kaya, son of Mehmet and born in 1960, in relation to the events of 16 March 1993. Ali Ertaş stated that he was the Head of the Balpınar village guards and that on 16 March 1993 he had been on patrol duty on the Kırmızıtepe hill to the west of Balpınar. He denied any involvement in the killing of the applicant's parents and brother and stated that he felt slandered. His account was supported by Mecit Kaya who confirmed that he had been on patrol on the Kırmızıtepe hill together with Ali Ertaş until the morning of 17 March 1993. Mecit Kaya further declared that neither the village of Balpınar nor Ali Ertaş had any involvement in the killings.
On 5 April 1993 Mr Salih Kaygusuz took a statement from Orhan Ertaş, son of Şeyhmus and born in 1969, who stated that on 16 March 1993 he had not been in Balpınar. On that day he had been loading goods onto his lorry in the province of Mersin and had driven his lorry to Istanbul. He further declared that due to his work, he never stayed very long in Balpınar.
28.  Between 7 April and 17 May 1993 a ballistics examination was carried out. According to a ballistics report of 29 April 1993 of the forensic laboratory in Diyarbakır, the nine empty 7.62 mm calibre Kalashnikov cartridges found at the scene of the killing had been fired from three different weapons with the same calibre, i.e. six from one weapon, two from another and one from a third weapon. In a report of 17 May 1993, transmitted to the Mazıdağı prosecutor, the forensic laboratory in Diyarbakır concluded that none of the nine cartridges found at the scene of the killings matched the five empty cartridges reportedly taken from the Kalashnikov rifle of Ali Ertaş and that, therefore, the nine cartridges had not been fired from Ali Ertaş' weapon.
29.  On 7 July 1993 the Mazıdağı public prosecutor Yekta Çobanoğlu, decided that he lacked jurisdiction to deal with the case. The decision listed Ali and Orhan Ertaş as being suspected of the offence of “politically motivated murder” of the applicant's parents and brother. It noted that, following its investigation, the District gendarme command had concluded that unidentified members of the PKK terrorist organisation had committed the killings, but that, according to the respective accounts of the applicant and her sister Mekiye, their father had recognised the perpetrators as Ali and Orhan Ertaş. Concluding that the alleged offence fell within the scope of Law No. 2845, it was decided that the Mazıdağı prosecutor's office lacked jurisdiction and that the case-file should be transmitted to the prosecutor's office at the Diyarbakır State Security Court.
30.  On 13 September 1993, following referral of the prosecution's case file to the prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court, the prosecutor at this court, Tanju Güvendiren, took certain additional measures with respect to the ballistics examination. He enquired as to why only five empty cartridge shells had been sent for examination, whereas six such cartridges taken from Kalashnikov weapons owned by six village guards had been required for a comparison. He further instructed the gendarmerie to provide him with a list of the Karataş village guards as well as the Kalashnikov delivery receipts of these village guards and to send the Kalashnikov delivered to Ali Ertaş and all other Kalashnikovs belonging to the village guards to the forensic laboratory in Diyarbakır for a ballistics examination. In the event of there being insufficient replacement rifles, he instructed that these rifles be discharged and the empty cartridges numbered in order to identify which cartridge was fired from which weapon and to send these cartridges to the forensic laboratory for a ballistics examination.
On 19 October 1993 the Mazıdağı District gendarme command sent to the prosecutor's office at the Diyarbakır State Security Court sixty-five weapon and ammunition delivery receipts of the Balpınar village guards and sixty-five numbered empty cartridges. No information was provided as to the circumstances of the firing of the weapons. On 27 October 1994 the Regional Criminal Police Laboratory in Diyarbakır submitted to the State Security Court a ballistics examination report which concluded that none of the sixty-five empty 7.62 mm Kalashnikov cartridges matched the nine cartridges found at the place where the applicant's parents and brother had been shot.
31.  On 6 January 1994 prosecutor Tanju Güvendiren charged Ali and Orhan Ertaş with politically motivated murder of the applicant's parents and brother Orhan, under Articles 31, 33 and 448 of the Turkish Penal Code and Article 13/2 of the Law No. 6136.
On 21 January 1994 the State Security Court instructed the Mazıdağı Court of First Instance, inter alia, to take statements from Ali and Orhan Ertaş, Mecit Kaya and Mahmut Denli, and to take evidence from Şemsi and Mekiye Önen. It adjourned its further examination until 16 March 1994. On that date it noted that the results of its instructions had not yet arrived and that it appeared from the case-file that weapons seized from the suspects had been sent to the Diyarbakır Police Laboratory for a ballistics examination.
Pending the implementation of its above-mentioned orders for the hearing of witnesses and a request for the preparation of a further forensic laboratory report, the State Security Court adjourned the proceedings several times, on the last occasion until 28 December 1994.
32.  In the meantime, according to a statement dated 4 May 1994 and signed by the gendarmes Yusuf Kocer and Salih Günay and by the Muhtar of Karataş Muhittin Araç, the applicant and her sister Mekiye were living around Cezaevi in the Diyarbakır province, but their address could not be established. In another statement dated 4 May 1994 and signed by the same gendarmes and the Muhtar of Balpınar, Izettin Kaya, it was noted that the current whereabouts of Orhan Ertaş were unknown.
On 6 May 1994, in the presence of the Mazıdağı public prosecutor Yekta Çobanoğlu, the judge at the Mazıdağı Court of First Instance, Ayhan İstikbal, took statements from Mahmut Denli, Mecit Kaya and Ali Ertaş. It was noted that Orhan Ertaş had not appeared. Ali Ertaş stated that Orhan Ertaş had left Balpınar some time ago, that he was unaware of Orhan's whereabouts and, in any event, Orhan had not been in the village for a long time. As regards the applicant and her sister Mekiye, it was noted that they had not appeared and that the response to their summons indicated that they were not in the village and were residing in the Cezaevi neighbourhood in Diyarbakır. On 29 June 1994 the State Security Court noted that no statements had been taken from the applicant and her sister Mekiye as their address could not be established.
33.  On 28 December 1994 the State Security Court tried the case in the absence of the defendants as well as of the applicant and her sister. The prosecution submitted that the applicant and her sister had only heard their father state the names of the accused but that there was no other evidence supporting their account. The prosecution argued that, in these circumstances, the accused should be given the benefit of the doubt and acquitted. By judgment of 28 December 1994 the State Security Court unanimously acquitted Ali and Orhan Ertaş of the charges against them.
34.  Since the facts of the case are disputed, particularly concerning the circumstances of the killings and the adequacy of the follow-up investigation, the Commission conducted an investigation with the assistance of the parties. The Commission obtained documentary evidence, including written statements. The oral evidence of the applicant and 12 witnesses was heard by three Delegates at a hearing in Ankara on 30 March and 1 and 2 April 1998.
35.  As regards written evidence, the Commission had particular regard to the statements of both the applicant and his sister Mekiye Önen of 1 and 5 April 1993 (taken by the Fosfat gendarme station commander Salih Kaygusuz and by gendarme officer Cengiz Kesler of the Mazıdağı district gendarme station); a statement by the applicant of 9 June 1993 (taken by Mr Yekta Çobanoğlu, the public prosecutor of Mazıdağı); an undated statement taken by Mr Sedat Aslantaş of the Diyarbakır Branch of the Human Rights Association (submitted to the Commission on 18 October 1993); a statement by the applicant's sister of 6 July 1993 (taken by Yekta Çobanoğlu); statements by village guards Ali Ertaş and Mecit Kaya taken on 4 and 5 April 1993 (at Fosfat gendarme station by Salih Kaygusuz); a statement by Mahmut Denli (taken on 5 April 1993 by gendarme Cengiz Kesler at the Mazıdağı District gendarme station); a statement of 6 July 1993 of Ali Ertaş (taken by Yekta Çobanoğlu); statements taken on 6 May 1994 from Mahmut Denli, Mecit Kaya and Ali Ertaş by judge Ayhan İstikbal of the Mazıdağı Court of First Instance upon request of the State Security Court of Diyarbakır.
The Commission also had regard to an incident report and a sketch map, both dated 16 March 1993; an ambulance record of 16 March 1993; a post mortem examination report dated 17 March 1993; correspondence of the Mazıdağı public prosecutor; forensic ballistics inquiries and examinations; Yekta Çobanoğlu's decision of lack of jurisdiction dated 7 July 1993 and a number of minutes of the proceedings before the State Security Court; as well as other documents.
The latter included gendarme reports and statements related to the investigation of the attack on Balpınar village guards on 15 November 1992, according to which a group of nine Balpınar village guards travelling by tractor on the road from Balpınar to the Fosfat gendarme station were attacked by PKK forces on 15 November 1992 at around 16.00 hours. At the time of the attack, the village guards found themselves between the villages Arısu and Karataş. Four village guards were injured, amongst whom Ramazan Ertaş, son of Kasım and born in 1955. Four others were killed, amongst whom Nesrettin Ertaş, son of Şeyhmus and born in 1965, and Davut Ertaş, son of Kasım and born in 1944.
Account was also taken of letters of various dates between 30 June 1995 and 25 March 1998, from the Commander of the Mazıdağı District gendarme station to the office of the public prosecutor in Mazıdağı in which he informed the public prosecutor that the identities of the PKK members who had killed the applicant's parents and brother had not yet been established. A number of these letters, including one sent on 25 March 1998, stated that the investigation of the matter was still ongoing.
36.  The oral evidence included statements by the applicant herself, Mekiye Önen, Ercan Önen, Muhittin Araç, Tahir Önen, Mehmet Hadi Araç, Salih Kaygusuz, Mahmut Denli, Mecit Kaya, Yekta Çobanoğlu, Sedat İşçi, Cengiz Kesler and Tanju Güvendiren.
37.  The verbatim record of the hearing held on 30 March 1998 contained the following passages of relevance to the Government's preliminary objection as to the authenticity of the application (see paragraph 71 below):
“Mr RESS: Did you make two statements at the station, and did you sign them?
 
Miss Şemsi ÖNEN: Yes. I went there a few times. They asked me questions. I answered them. They wrote them down. I put my fingerprint as I don't know how to write. But I don't know what they wrote. I answered the questions just as I'm doing here now. My brother was with me. I put my fingerprint to the statements.
 
Mr. RESS: Since you cannot read, I will only show you your fingerprint, and you will say whether it's yours or not.
 
A document is shown to the applicant.
 
Miss Şemsi ÖNEN: Yes, it's mine. That's how I put my fingerprint.”
38.  In relation to the oral evidence, the Commission was aware of the difficulties in assessing evidence obtained orally through interpreters: it therefore paid careful attention to the meaning and significance to be attributed to the statements made by the witnesses appearing before its Delegates. The Commission was aware that the cultural context of the applicant and witnesses rendered it inevitable that there would be a certain degree of imprecision with regard to dates and other details. However it did not consider that this by itself detracted from the credibility of the testimony.
In a case where there were contradictory and conflicting factual accounts of events, the Commission was acutely aware of its own limitations as a first instance tribunal of fact. The problems of language were adverted to above; there was also an inevitable lack of detailed and direct familiarity with the conditions in the region. In addition, the Commission had no powers to take specific measures to compel witnesses to give oral or written evidence. In the present case, despite the Commission's specific request, the Government failed to submit certain relevant documents. The Commission was therefore faced with the difficult task of determining events on the basis of incomplete evidence.
The Commission's findings can be summarised as follows.
39.  The villages of Balpınar and Karataş were situated in an area which was subjected to significant PKK activity in the early 1990's. It was undisputed that, prior to the events at issue, village guards from Balpınar had been attacked on two occasions by PKK forces and that, on 16 March 1993, PKK forces attacked a nearby PTT radio link installation.
The inhabitants of Karataş, Balpınar and about forty other villages belonged to the “Metina” clan. It appeared that, at the relevant time, all villages belonging to this clan, with the exception of the village of Karataş and one other village, had village guards and that pressure was exerted to join the village guard system. A number of witnesses stated that the refusal of Karataş to join the village guard system had resulted in tension between Karataş and Balpınar. Other witnesses denied such tension. The public prosecutor at Mazıdağı confirmed that he had heard rumours that the inhabitants of Karataş opposed the Turkish State and, therefore, the village guards were their enemies. The Balpınar village guards were not authorised to act on their own initiative. They received their orders from and had to report to the Commander of the nearby Fosfat gendarme station.
40.  Although it could not make any definite findings on this point, the Commission did not consider it to be implausible that Karataş' refusal to join the village guard system during a period of significant PKK activity in the area, had resulted in tension between the village guards of Balpınar and the inhabitants of Karataş.
41.  The Commission was satisfied from the evidence given by the applicant and her sister, that in the evening of 16 March 1993 after having introduced themselves as soldiers knowing that the Muhtar was absent from Karataş and wishing to conduct a house search, two armed and masked men entered their family home. One of the men immediately shot and killed their brother Orhan. In the course of their struggle with the intruders, the applicant's father was shot and killed by one of the intruders and the applicant's mother was seriously injured by a shot fired by the other intruder. There was no reason to doubt that both the applicant and her sister heard their father call out the names of the two perpetrators whom he had recognised as Ali and Orhan Ertaş from Balpınar.
The killings in question were the result of a premeditated plan to kill the applicant's brother. As to the possible motive for the killing it could not be excluded that there were tensions between the inhabitants of Karataş and the Balpınar village guards at the relevant time which had already resulted in armed attacks on houses in Karataş. Nor could it be excluded that Orhan Önen may have been a particular target because of his suspected involvement in the PKK killing of village guards from Balpınar. On the other hand, the Government's contention that the PKK had a motive for killing Orhan Önen because they had provided him with a vehicle which he had used for his own benefit rather than for services required by the PKK had not only remained unsubstantiated but was, moreover, contradicted by substantial evidence submitted by the applicant.
42.  As to the circumstances of the killing itself, the Commission found it established that the killers were aware that the Muhtar of Karataş was absent from the village and that the applicant and her sister heard their father call out the names of the perpetrators, identifying them as Ali and Orhan Ertaş. Moreover, the evidence of Mahmut Denli and Mecit Kaya that the Balpınar village guards, including Ali Ertaş, had been on guard duty throughout the night of 16 March 1993 was at least open to question. In addition, the suspicion of the involvement of Balpınar village guards was reinforced by the identification of Ali and Orhan Ertaş by the applicant and her sister at the Mazıdağı gendarme station. Nevertheless, while the evidence was sufficient to give rise to suspicion as to the identity of the killers, it had not been established to the required standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt that the applicant's brother, father and mother were killed by agents of the State.
In this connection, the Commission noted that the applicant had given the Delegates a description of the two men: the one who shot her brother Orhan and her mother had been described as a person with long fair hair, hazel eyes and a fair complexion, whilst the man who shot their father was described as having a moustache and black eyes. Her sister, Mekiye, confirmed that the man who shot Orhan had hazel eyes but stated that she had not seen the second intruder. The applicant had further given evidence that, on 5 April 1993, when she subsequently attended the Mazıdağı gendarme station, she saw Ali and Orhan Ertaş and recognised them as the same two men. This was confirmed by Mekiye in that, on the same occasion, she had recognised Orhan Ertaş as one of the killers from his height, build, hazel eyes, nose and complexion.
The Commission considered that this evidence should be treated with caution. In the circumstances of the sudden and traumatic events of that night, it was at least doubtful whether either the applicant or her sister would have had an opportunity to form a clear and accurate impression of the features of either man. In particular, Mekiye appeared only fleetingly to have seen her brother's killer, whose face had been masked with a scarf. The Commission noted that the description given by them of Orhan and Ali was contradicted by Muhittin Araç, who knew both men and who described Orhan as being lean with a dark complexion and black hair and Ali as being a more bulky man of the same height with a light complexion and chestnut brown hair.
As to the evidence of the subsequent identification of these two men, the Commission found no reason to doubt that the applicant and her sister did see Ali and Orhan Ertaş at the Mazıdağı gendarme station on 5 April 1993. What was, however, more doubtful was whether the identification of the two men was entirely spontaneous or whether the applicant and her sister were made aware that the men were Ali and Orhan, whose names had been called out by their father.
43.  Finally, it had not been established that Salih Kaygusuz, the Commander of the Fosfat gendarme station, had considerably delayed the provision of medical treatment to the applicant's injured mother or that the gendarme forces failed to offer her available assistance. In this connection, the Commission had regard to its findings as regards the time of the armed attack and the moment at which the applicant's mother received medical care in Mazıdağı.
44.  From the evidence of Salih Kaygusuz it appeared that, after the minibus transporting the applicant's mother had left for Mazıdağı, he reported the incident in Karataş to his superiors at the District gendarme station in Mazıdağı and stated that he suspected that the PKK was responsible for the killings. He was told that, for reasons of security, the public prosecutor would only come to Karataş the next morning. He then ordered a first gendarme team to secure the area around Karataş. A second team, led by himself, joined the first team some time later. Thereupon, he and one gendarme team went to Karataş. They arrived sometime after midnight and found the bodies of the three victims inside the applicant's house.
45.  Although the local gendarmes only arrived in Karataş at least three hours after the killings occurred, the Commission accepted that this delay had been caused by the fact that on the same evening an armed attack on a nearby radio link installation had taken place. However, once in Karataş, the gendarmes only secured the scene of the crime and, in the absence of any instructions, passively awaited the arrival of the competent investigation authorities, in the instant case the public prosecutor at Mazıdağı.
46.  According to Salih Kaygusuz, the villagers present were unwilling to provide the first team of gendarmes with any information about the killings. After having secured the scene of the killings, he and the other gendarmes merely awaited the arrival of the prosecutor since they had not been ordered to take any investigative steps.
47.  In the morning of 17 March 1993 an investigation team consisting of the public prosecutor of Mazıdağı, Yekta Çobanoğlu, and, amongst others, Dr. Sedat İşçi left Mazıdağı for Karataş.
After the investigation team had arrived in Karataş and before attending the post mortem examination of the victims' bodies, the public prosecutor briefly inspected the scene of the killings and ordered Salih Kaygusuz to draw a sketch map of the scene of the killings and to collect the empty cartridges lying there. Without having been numbered and without having recorded the exact location of each cartridge, the nine empty cartridges found were put together in a bag and handed to the public prosecutor. No photographs of the scene of the killings were taken by or on behalf of the investigation team.
48.  The information recorded on the sketch map of the scene of the killings appeared to be incomplete. In contrast to a remark in the post mortem body examination report and the testimony of Dr. Sedat İşçi, the sketch map did not indicate a large blood stain on the spot where the body of Orhan Önen had been found. Furthermore, although both Salih Kaygusuz, who drew the sketch map, and Yekta Çobanoğlu were aware that the body of the applicant's mother had been moved, this fact had not been recorded on the sketch map. Although the Commission accepted that, at the time this sketch map was drawn, the members of the investigation team may have been unaware of the fact that the body of the applicant's father had also been moved from the outside of the house, the subsequent investigation could not have been assisted by the fact that the scope of the sketch map was confined to the inside of the house and did not contain any information about the immediate surroundings.
49.  The Commission noted that, according to the post mortem examination report, the applicant's brother, lying in bed, was hit by numerous bullets in his face, by one bullet in his chest and by another bullet in his knee. The Commission found this recorded observation difficult to reconcile with the fact that, according to the sketch map, only four empty cartridges were found in the room where Orhan Önen was shot and with the evidence that not a single bullet had been found in that room. Furthermore, although there was strong evidence suggesting that the applicant's father had been shot and killed outside the house, the sketch map only contained information on what had been found inside the house. Although this was denied by Salih Kaygusuz, the Commission could not exclude that more than the nine recorded empty cartridges were in fact found and collected, including empty cartridges found outside the house.
50.  After having conducted the examination of the bodies and released the victims' remains for burial, the investigation team left Karataş. Although the public prosecutor was aware that both the applicant and her sister were present in Karataş during the visit of the investigation team, neither the public prosecutor nor any other official took any statement's from them or any of the other inhabitants of Karataş on that day.
51.  As early as 17 March 1993 the public prosecutor suspected that the PKK was responsible for the killings and, in a telegram sent the same day, informed the office of the public prosecutor at the State Security Court in Diyarbakır accordingly. Although in his evidence to the Commission's Delegates, Yekta Çobanoğlu stressed that this had only been a provisional opinion, his respective requests dated 17 March 1993 to the Census Directorate in Mazıdağı to issue death certificates in respect of the applicant's parents and brother simply state that they “were murdered by fire-armed members of the outlawed PKK terrorist organisation” and, consequently, their deaths were officially recorded as having been caused by the PKK terrorist organisation.
52.  It was only on 1 April 1993 that the applicant and her sister Mekiye gave a statement about the events of 16 March 1993 to the commander of the Fosfat gendarme station Salih Kaygusuz. The applicant stated that she had heard her father call out the names of the intruders and she further gave a description of the intruders' physical appearance. Mekiye stated that she had heard her father call out only one name and did not give any description of the intruders' physical features. According to Salih Kaygusuz, this was the first time that he heard the allegation that Ali and Orhan Ertaş had committed the killings.
53.  In his testimony to the Delegates, Salih Kaygusuz had a firm recollection that he had also taken statements from Muhittin Araç, Tahir Önen and Mahmut Denli. In reply to the request of the Commission's Delegates to submit these statements, the Government stated by letter of 21 January 1999 that Salih Kaygusuz had not participated in the interrogation of these three persons. The Commission further noted that its case-file did not contain any statement given by any of these three persons at the Fosfat gendarme station.
54.  The Commission further found it established that Yekta Çobanoğlu, from the outset, had a rather firm conviction that PKK forces had committed the killings. Although he stressed that this had only been a provisional opinion inspired by views expressed by the gendarmes and his own experience, the Commission found no support for the asserted provisional nature of this suspicion. In fact, it appeared from the contents of his written communications of 17 March 1993 that he had firm ideas about the identity of the perpetrators. This element, taken together with his failure to try to talk to the applicant and her sister on 17 March 1993, resulted in a loss of time in the initial phase of the investigation.
55.  As regards the encounter on 5 April 1993 between the applicant and her sister and Ali and Orhan Ertaş in the Mazıdağı District gendarme station, the Commission found that it could not be excluded that this encounter was in fact the result of a coincidence since Yekta Çobanoğlu had not ordered a confrontation. It did not appear from the evidence that the applicant and her sister had been invited by the investigation authorities to identify the perpetrators either from a collection of photographs or at an identity parade. The Commission found that no photographs of Ali and Orhan Ertaş had ever been shown to the applicant and her sister and that at no point in time had a formal confrontation been ordered.
The Commission further noted from the evidence submitted that, apart from the statement taken from Orhan Ertaş at the Fosfat gendarme station on 5 April 1993, hardly any attempts were made or seriously pursued to obtain any further evidence from him. Nor did it seem that any attempt had been made to verify his alibi by, for instance, checking his whereabouts on 16 and 17 March 1993 by seeking confirmation from those persons present when he was allegedly loading goods in Mersin or from those to whom he had delivered these goods. It did not appear from the statement he gave at the Fosfat gendarme station that he was in fact asked to give the names of persons who had seen him on 16 and 17 March 1993.
As regards the alibi advanced by Ali Ertaş, the Commission noted that his presence on Kırmızıtepe hill at the time of the killings was in fact only supported by the statements of Mecit Kaya and Mahmut Denli, whereas the latter had stated to the Commission's Delegates that he had not in fact been in the presence of Ali Ertaş at the time of the killings, but had only seen him shortly afterwards. Given the evidence that there were, in total, 65 village guards in Balpınar who were organised in teams of 12-14 persons, the Commission found it remarkable that, apart from Mecit Kaya, no evidence was taken from the other village guards who were on duty in the same team as Ali Ertaş at the relevant time in order to verify the respective positions of each team member on Kırmızıtepe hill that evening.
56.  After having received the case-file, Tanju Güvendiren, the public prosecutor at the State Security Court noted that the investigation had been incomplete. In order to complete the investigation, he issued a number of instructions to the Mazıdağı District gendarme station by letter of 13 September 1993 including that comparison cartridges be taken from the weapons held by the village guards from Karataş. On 19 October 1993 the Commander of the Mazıdağı District gendarme station transmitted 65 weapon delivery receipts and 65 empty cartridges taken from the Balpınar village guards to the office of the public prosecutor at the State Security Court. This letter contained no information as to when and in which manner these cartridges were obtained.
Although Tanju Güvendiren considered that there was no concrete evidence in support of the accusations made against Ali and Orhan Ertaş and was convinced that the PKK was responsible for the killings, he nevertheless brought proceedings against Ali and Orhan Ertaş on charges of politically motivated murder and indicted them on 6 January 1994 before the State Security Court, which had jurisdiction to determine murder charges linked to terrorism. He did not find it necessary to take any further statements or to order the arrest or pre-trial detention of the accused. In his opinion, it was excluded that the security forces would cover up a crime committed by village guards.
In the subsequent proceedings before it, the State Security Court in Diyarbakır requested, inter alia, that statements be taken from Ali and Orhan Ertaş, from the applicant and her sister Mekiye, and from Mecit Kaya and Mahmut Denli. They were all summoned to appear on 6 May 1994 before a judge of the Mazıdağı Court of First Instance in order to give statements, but only Ali Ertaş, Mecit Kaya and Mahmut Denli in fact did so. As the whereabouts of Orhan Ertaş, the applicant and her sister were not established, their summonses were returned to the State Security Court and, consequently, no further statements were taken from them. 
The Commission noted that, although the gendarmes and the State Security Court were informed that the applicant and her sister were residing in the Cezaevi neighbourhood in Diyarbakır, it did not appear that any attempts were made or ordered to locate them. Nor did it seem that any further attempts were made or ordered to find Orhan Ertaş. The Commission noted that the Muhtar of Karataş, Muhittin Araç, testified that he had been aware of the exact address of the applicant and her sister in Diyarbakır, but that he had never been asked to provide the local gendarmes with this address. He explained his signature on a document dated 4 May 1994 by stating that it had been normal practice in the area for gendarmes to require Muhtars to sign blank documents for future use. No further clarification on this point could be obtained from Salih Kaygusuz, as he had left the Fosfat gendarme station in August 1993. In these circumstances, it was impossible for the Commission to make any findings in this respect. What was clear, however, was that the State Security Court was informed that the applicant and her sister were residing at that time in the Cezaevi neighbourhood of Diyarbakır. In this connection, the Commission had also regard to the evidence of the applicant's brother that, since their departure from Karataş and to date, the Önen family had always lived at the same address in Diyarbakır.
57.  The Commission accepted that the supplementary investigation measures ordered by the public prosecutor at the State Security Court, Tanju Güvendiren, in order to mend certain deficiencies in the preliminary investigation, were appropriate, although it was open to doubt whether, given the passage of time since the killings, these measures were as effective as they might have been in the initial phase of the proceedings. Moreover, he testified that he was convinced at the outset that the PKK was responsible for the killings, which might explain why he decided to indict Ali and Orhan Ertaş before the State Security Court, rather than referring the case to a court competent to try common crimes. This was supported by the fact that, apart from Ali Ertaş, none of the other vital witnesses gave evidence to the State Security Court.